Gamblor’s World

Author: James Ihaka
Source: New Zealand Herald
Published Date: Nov 23, 2007

Full Document:
NEW ZEALAND — Desperate poker machine gamblers are stripping homes of essential fittings to finance their habit.
Some Housing New Zealand tenants in South Auckland have ripped carpet, ovens, stair rails, doors and water cylinders from their homes and sold them to scrap yards and pawnbrokers.

A Manurewa woman, who did not want to be named, told the Herald her husband’s problem gambling had escalated from spending “$10 every now and then” to selling his family’s hot water supply and oven for his pokie fix at a local bar.

“He ripped out the hot water cylinder and sold it for $230 at a scrap metal yard,” she said. “I think it was later that week when he took the oven and sold that too - it didn’t seem to bother him that we had two children to feed.”

continued at

Thursday, October 4, 2007 | 1:58 PM ET
CBC News
<The head of Ontario’s Problem Gambling Research Centre is calling for tougher rules to protect players who use the 23,000 slot machines in the province.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission is currently drafting new standards to address questions about machines that flash jackpot symbols or distort the true odds of winning.

But Rob Simpson of the gambling research centre says the new standards proposed for Ontario’s slot machines allow for cheating and deception and is calling on the commission to toughen the rules to better protect players and potential addicts.

Earlier this year CBC News videotaped slots in action across Ontario and then slowed down the images.

The investigation found that some machines rapidly flashed jackpot symbols at players, symbols barely detectable to the naked eye.>

continued at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/10/04/ont-slots.html?ref=rss

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 19, 2007

Gambling Watch Network Reviews Draft

Electronic Gaming Equipment Minimum Technical Standards

- Finds AGCO Has Been Routinely Approving Unfair & Deceptive Slot Machines

FROM: Canada’s Gambling Watch Network

• We now know, through our review of Ontario’s draft Electronic Gaming Equipment Technical Standards, that Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs), including slot machines, have been routinely approved by the Alcohol & Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) without consideration of Criminal Code provisions and consumer protection principals and legislation. This has lead to the routine approval and operation of unfair, deceptive and fraudulent EGMs - this situation is a scandal and unacceptable.

• The draft standards appear to be a further attempt to legitimize concealed, unfair and deceptive features and processes within EGMs that would otherwise be illegal under the Criminal Code (fraud/cheating at play) and general consumer protection legislation, including the Ontario Consumer Protection Act.

• Sections of the draft standards can be described as a scheme intended to circumvent provisions of the Criminal Code, Competition Act & Ontario Consumer Protection Act.

• Game Fairness objectives that follow consumer protection principals should be included in the new technical standards so these standards can be used to ensure game safety, fairness, honesty and compliance with all Canadian laws.

• Consumers should benefit from the highest level of protection that exists, whether via specialized gaming technical standards or consumer protection legislation, such as the Competition Act and Ontario Consumer Protection Act.

• Gambling Watch demands that the AGCO start enforcing compliance of all laws when it come to approving EGMs, either through new technical standards or separate compliance and enforcement provisions.

• We have advised AGCO to immediately phase out unfair and deceptive EGMs and warn the public that these machines do not meet consumer protection standards.

• We have advised AGCO that all games with suspected “subliminal inducements” should be immediately shut down, regardless if these inducements are shown to work or not, since they are intended to deceive and are not in the public’s best interest.

• Open questions to all provincial political parties: “How will you manage this new lottery (slot fraud) scandal? How will you ensure EGMs comply with the Ontario Consumer Protection Act and other relevant legislation?

Full copies of Gambling Watch’s comments on the draft Ontario Electronic Gaming Equipment Minimum Technical Standards are available upon request.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Brian Yealland

yealland@post.queensu.ca
Spokesperson

Canada’s Gambling Watch Network
Roger Horbay

rogerh@gameplanit.com
Gambling Technology Advisor to

Canada’s Gambling Watch Network

###

Peter McKenna, For The Calgary Herald, Saturday, July 07, 2007

Gambling proponents and video lottery stakeholders maintain that a VLT ban will never work. For them, there is no sense thinking about it because it can’t be properly structured or effectively enforced, and addicts will always want their fix.

This sentiment was captured by the president and CEO of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Michelle Carinci, when she spoke before the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Accounts Committee in January 2006. “Prohibition has never proven to have worked in any jurisdiction that we have looked at. . . . What prohibition does is it drives the activity underground. The activity will happen,” she declared.

South Carolina’s abolition of some 34,000 video poker machines in 2000 undermines Carinci’s claims. The tipping point for that state was the death of a newborn in a car on a sweltering summer day as the child’s mother played the VLTs for hours at a roadside casino.

The governor of North Carolina moved to ban an estimated 10,000 VLTs from his state as of July 1. He did so in part because of a flood of illegal machines that entered the state after being outlawed in South Carolina.

The real argument against a VLT ban is that it will work too well.

A ban will cut into the revenue stream of governments (and interested parties) and force them to look for monies elsewhere. It could also have a marginal impact in terms of job losses.

This expected financial hit is what really terrifies opponents. North Carolina’s revenue department is projecting a forfeiture of some $100 million annually and the potential loss of more than 1,700 jobs.

In North Carolina, law enforcement agencies joined church groups, the mental health community and citizens in calling for a ban.

The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association maintained they didn’t have enough resources to regulate the machines, which were supposed to pay out prizes worth no more than $10 in merchandise or store credit (when they were paying out significantly larger sums). With the ban, not only did they have one less thing to worry about from a policing standpoint, but they wouldn’t have to involve themselves in time-consuming and costly investigations of illegal payouts.

The sheriffs said illegal activities often accompanied improper operations, including increased political corruption and crime. They viewed the ban as a critical step in reducing petty theft, fraud, embezzlement and even domestic violence.

Clearly, the argument of those who say a ban is unenforceable is severely weakened when the ones who would be responsible for implementing it endorse it.

South Carolina police have had no problem enforcing their ban as long as they have in place guidelines, penalties, sufficient staff and the requisite political backing of legislators.

The real problem with a ban is politicians’ utter lack of will and commitment.

The Alberta government should stop listening to the Gaming and Liquor Commission and do what is best for Albertans. Politicians need to stop fiddling with prevalence studies, responsible gambling gimmicks and marginal reductions in the numbers of machines, and put out the VLT fire with a ban on these insidious machines.

Peter McKenna is an associate professor of political studies at the University of Prince Edward Island. he is completing a book on the politics of VLTs in Atlantic Canada.

http://news. sawf.org/Lifestyle/ 39061.aspx

Posted on Monday, 25 June 2007 (EST)

OSLO (AFP) - In a bid to combat gambling addiction, the Norwegian state
has declared a monopoly on all slot machines and has given humanitarian
organisations, volunteer groups and sporting clubs until July 1 to
remove their machines from bars, supermarkets, airports, gas stations
and other locations.

Apparently the charities, embarassed at the harm they have been
causing, have agreed to the move. The new machines, to be operated by
Norsk Tipping, the state lottery monopoly, will be less “aggressive” .

see article …

Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar: The future of gambling – regulation, reorganisation and new media opportunities

Timing: Morning, 26th June 2007

Venue: Local Government House, Smith Square , London SW1P 3HZ

www.westminstereforum.co.uk

Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar: The future of gambling – regulation, reorganisation and new media opportunities

Timing: Morning, 26th June 2007

Venue: Local Government House, Smith Square , London SW1P 3HZ

8.45 – 9.00 Registration

9.00 – 9.05 Chairman’s opening remarks

Lord Roberts of Llandudno, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Development and for Wales

9.05 – 9.35 The view from Government

Theme: The view from DCMS on the future of the UK gambling industry.

Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Questions and comments from the floor

9.35 – 10.25 Gambling in the UK : Where are we now?

Theme: How has the situation in the UK gambling industry changed in the past 10 years, and how will it develop in future? What opportunities do new media present, and how can we take advantage of them?

Professor Peter Collins, Director, Centre for the Study of Gambling, University of Salford

Professor Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, Nottingham Trent University

Scott Davies, Director and Co-Founder, Million 2-1

Kevin Farrell-Roberts, Chief Executive, Gordon House Association

Questions and comments from the floor

10.25 – 11.15 Social and economic consequences: What impact will super-casinos and internet gambling have?

Theme: What consequences will follow the possible opening of the UK ’s first super-casino? Will full implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 lead to greater accessibility of remote gambling? Will development lead to regeneration of deprived areas? Will problem gamblers face increasing temptation and reduced supervision, or will improved regulation provide increased security and protection?

Steven Bate, Campaign Organiser, Campaign Against Super-Casino Expansion (CASE)

Jez San, Founder and President, PKR.COM

Revd Christopher Jones, Policy Advisor to the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England

Bob Harris, Chairman, TourEast London
Questions and comments from the floor

11.15 – 11.20 Chairman’s closing remarks

Lord Roberts of Llandudno, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Development and for Wales

11.20 – 11.40 Coffee

11.40 – 11.45 Chairman’s opening remarks
Laurence Robertson MP, Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland

11.45 – 12.10 Regulation under the Gambling Act 2005

Theme: What’s changed? How can regulation promote industry while protecting the vulnerable? How are local councils preparing for September and what will the changes mean for them, and for industry?

Mark Du Val, Director of Policy, LACORS

Questions and comments from the floor

12.10 –
12.55 Self-regulation vs. external regulation

Theme: How can regulation of new media applications/ platforms promote industry while protecting vulnerable groups? Is external regulation the best option, or should there be more self-regulation?

Bill Galston, Independent Director, eCogra

Geoffrey Godbold, Chief Executive Officer, GamCare

Richard Flint, Managing Director, Sky Bet

Jenine Hulsmann, Partner, Clifford Chance

Martin Cruddace, Head of Legal, Betfair

Questions and comments from the floor

12.55 – 13.00 Chairman’s and WeF closing remarks

Laurence Robertson MP, Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland
Peter van Gelder , Director, Westminster eForum

Draft agenda subject to change

Gambler’s self-ban system ‘built on quicksand’

Author:
Source: CBC News
Published: Jun 01, 07

Full Document:
ONTARIO, CANADA — Thousands of gambling addicts have signed agreements with Ontario’s gaming agency asking to be barred from casinos and slot parlours, but critics say the system is full of holes that let addicts easily slip back into the gaming sites.
The photos of 10,000 problem gamblers who have signed up for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.’s so-called “self-exclusion” program fill 22 binders.

Security guards at the province’s gambling facilities are expected to commit each face to memory, then charge those gamblers with trespassing if they’re found in the facility.

But security guards say it’s an impossible task and lawyers for clients who have sued the agency call it a “system based on quicksand.”

Under the self-exclusion program, addicts who realize they have a problem sign an agreement asking to be banned from entering Ontario gaming sites. But the detailed form also includes a section releasing the OLG from any responsibility and future lawsuits.

Some security staff members, who asked to not be named, said they have documented the problems for years and even written to superiors complaining the current system is failing and that it’s impossible to remember all the faces.

OLG argues it’s ultimately the responsibility of the individual to stay away from the gambling facilities, pointing out the agreement is voluntary.

“The onus is on you on a voluntary basis to stay out of our casino,” said OLG spokesman Jim Cronin.

That hasn’t stopped nine people, including Joseph Treyes, from suing the OLG in the past 10 years.

Treyes, a 61-year-old Mississauga man suffering from Parkinson’s disease, sought out therapy, counselling and even went off medication he said was contributing to his addiction before he finally gave in and signed a self-exclusion agreement.

Treyes said he was well-known to the staff at Woodbine Racetrack and easily identifiable because of his walker. Yet, in hundreds of visits between September 2000, when he signed the self-exclusion agreement, and February 2007, he claimed staff only stopped him once.

“They knew me because I was always there, every day,” Treyes told the CBC a number of months ago. “It was easy to go back. Nobody stopped me.”

Ontario’s casinos use facial recognition technology to alert them to cheaters, but have chosen not to use it with the self-exclusion program.

Treyes’s lawyer, Hassan Fancy questioned the use of such a flawed memory-based system. “That’s a system that is based on quicksand,” he said. “That’s a system you can’t expect to work.”

Treyes was handed a settlement about a month ago. The OLG has settled all nine cases, for a total of $1.5 million. It wouldn’t comment on the amount in Treyes case, citing a strict confidentiality agreement the two sides signed. Treyes and Fancy spoke to the CBC some months before signing the settlement and confidentiality deal.

In fact, a lawyer hired by Ontario’s Problem Gambling Research Centre to study the OLG’s legal obligations said the settlements raise the question of whether the gaming agency is trying to keep the courts from establishing a consistent rule as to the agency’s responsibilities.

“By acknowledging you have a problem and putting the casino on notice that you have such a problem … certainly some of the responsibility would appear to fall on the shoulders on the gaming facility and by extension the OLG,” said Jasminka Kalajdzic.

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 | 12:58 PM ET

CBC News

The launch of Sunday shopping on P.E.I. last weekend opened Charlottetown’s racino for gambling, but bar owners are annoyed they still can’t run their VLTs on Sundays.

‘It’s just another way taking more revenue from the bars.’

— Paul Costain, Crazy Neighbour Bar & Grill The racino at the Charlottetown Driving Park announced last Saturday it would be open Sundays until Christmas. Patrons could play on one of the 210 slot machines or play Texas hold ‘em from noon to midnight on Sundays.

The ads came as a surprise to some bar owners who have VLTs, because their machines still have to shut down on Saturday night and remain off until Monday.

continued ….

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | 1:35 PM AT, CBC News

A woman whose addiction to VLTs cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars and her freedom hopes her story will be a cautionary tale for gamblers.

Margaret Alice Baldwin, 62, a former military nurse currently serving a five-year sentence for robbing a bank, told CBC News her problem started innocently enough in 1994 when she put a loonie in a video lottery terminal in a northern New Brunswick bar.

At the beginning, gambling gave Baldwin a high. And not even a bartender’s snide comment could dampen her spirits the day she won $300.

“‘I don’t know why you are so excited, you lost over $3,000 before you won that $300,’” she recalls being told.

As Baldwin’s addiction spiralled out of control, she lost friends and was unable to pay her bills, despite a substantial pension cheque from the military.

“I had a $500 watch on me and I would sell it for $25,” she said. “I would take it just to keep playing the machines.”

Fearing there was no way out, Baldwin held up a fast-food restaurant in 1999 with a toy gun she stole from a department store, hoping to be shot and killed by police.

She received counselling in prison but succumbed to the sparkle of the VLTs soon after her release. Numerous suicide attempts followed.

In September 2006, Baldwin robbed the Scotiabank in Amherst. She told the teller she had a bomb and demanded $100,000.

Throughout the entire incident one thought kept playing over and over in her head: “You’re going to be shot very shortly and this will be over,” she recalls.

Baldwin barely made it out the door when the police nabbed her, again without firing a shot.

Baldwin says she doesn’t want sympathy, she simply hopes her story can help others realize how deadly a video gambling addiction can be.

Copyright © CBC 2007

more at http://www.responsiblegambling.org/staffsearch/latest_news_articles_details.cfm?intID=10153

Author: French, Janet
Source: Regina Leader Post
Published Date: May 05, 2007

Description:
In Saskatchewan, a 2002 government report says an estimated 1.2 per cent of the province’s population, or between 5,600 to 13,200 adults, are problem gamblers. The telephone survey, performed in 2001 and analysed in the report, “Gambling and Problem Gambling in Saskatchewan,” says another 4.7 per cent of the province, or as many as 42,400 people, are “moderate risk” gamblers, and another 9.3 per cent, or as many as 79,800 adults, are low-risk gamblers. Part of the problem, said Harley Dickinson, a professor and head of sociology at the University of Saskatchewan, is gamblers have a poor understanding of how VLTs and slot machines are programmed to keep players hooked. Dickinson said the government could adopt a better balance between the revenue it gets from gaming and the amount it spends on problems. In 2005-06, the province raked in $69.4 million from casinos alone. $4 million of that money, or less than six per cent, went to treatment and prevention of compulsive gambling, according to the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority.